COVID-19 vaccinations for young children now expected to start later than usual
MORAGUN, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan is set to start vaccinating children against the coronavirus as soon as early next week, after initially pushing back vaccinations for children as the coronavirus pandemic continued to spiral.
A top health official said Tuesday that the country will push back vaccinations for children by at least 10 days, meaning the first vaccinations will be available as early as Thursday to anyone who wants them.
The World Health Organization said on Monday it would launch an expert panel that would review the country’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. WHO said an independent expert panel would assess “all existing national and local measures” with the goal of accelerating their implementation.
Since last week, Pakistan has increased the amount of test kits available for testing for the coronavirus. As of last week, the country had 7,092 confirmed cases and 371 deaths, according to WHO data.
As of Tuesday, Pakistan reported 993 confirmed cases and 40 deaths.
Pakistan on Tuesday launched a massive campaign in which it distributed 1,000 face masks to volunteers. The campaign is an attempt to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and a message to its people that the country is united in the fight against the virus.
The campaign is being carried out on three social media pages — coronaviruspalkwada.com, coronaviruspak4hassan.com and coronaviruspak4pakistan.com.
“We have to stay alert and alert all the time,” said Asad Rani, an instructor in Pakistan’s largest college, as he showed off his own homemade face mask in a sign of solidarity with his colleagues.
“If we do not use face masks and cover our nostrils, we are a cow,” he said. “If we look like a cow, we have to hide our heads. You have the right to be
